It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is almost here! I am looking forward to meeting with everyone to share your child's progress during conferences on Monday and Tuesday. If you need to double-check your time slot, please email me.

We have spent the last two weeks studying maps in Team Ward. We read two great children's books about maps, Me on the Map and Mapping Penny's World. The children started by making a map of their bedrooms with labels. Then, after learning about map keys and symbols, everyone drew a map of our classroom. Our last activity will include working with a partner to make a map of a neighborhood.

We recently assessed the students' spelling progress and formed new spelling groups. Please remind your child to study his/her spelling words weekly and complete their assignments on Spelling City. I designate time in class to work on Spelling City, but practice at home is a bonus! Spelling City is an app that can be used on a tablet or iPad. It can also be accessed via the internet and practiced on a computer. Feel free to email me if your child does not remember how to log in at home.

In math we are studying geometry. We learned about plane shapes and 3-dimensional (or solid) shapes. The children have learned a lot out the attributes of different shapes and how they might be used for different purposes. During one activity, they discovered many cylinders, spheres, rectangular prisms, and cubes all around us in the classroom! It was great to see the children make these discoveries on their own.

On December 6th we will be performing at the Barnes and Noble Book Fair. Hopefully you saw the notice that was sent home on Thursday. If you haven't sent back the slip indicating your child's availability on that day, please send do so as soon as you can. The children will be performing poems and songs with Mrs. Schlan's first-grade class. This is a great fundraising event for the PTO!